Most people who take a sabbatical at this time of year (end of summer) do so to go on vacation–to go to the seashore and perhaps go swimming, or go to the mountains for an extended hike, or what have you–but for some of us, such rests are necessary so that we can actually get things done. That is the case for me. This time away is nothing so glamorous as a trip to the beach, although hopefully the end result of it will be a home where we can live constantly reminded that the Ocean, and Her Gods and Goddesses (Njordr, Freyja-Mardoll, Ran, Aegir, the Nine Waves, and Nehalennia), are never very far away from us.

Most of you are aware that we’ve spent the entire summer embroiled in the real estate “shenanigans” of selling our house and procuring a new one. Well, we are now at that crucial point of packing up our lives and moving them (and their “souvenirs”) to a new home. That is going to require quite a bit of work on my part, so I will be taking time off from this business from today (July 26, 2017) through September 21, 2017, so that I can take care of the business of getting us packed, moved in, and unpacked in a timely fashion.

Njordr has been a primary and guiding force for me, through this entire “debacle”. I never really realized how much selling one house to move to another has in common with fishing until I was deep in the heart of this situation. When a fisherman casts a line or a net, he doesn’t wiggle or worry that line or net; he waits patiently. Sure, he puts in all of the hard work of baiting the line and reeling in the catch at the end, or of setting the net and hauling it back in, but during that in between portion, he simply waits. Patiently. Patience is not one of my better virtues, I’ll be honest. But I’ve learned a lot about the hope and faith that patience actually requires through undergoing and enduring this process.

So it is with that same hopeand faith that I beg your patience, while I am away for the next couple of months. I may occasionally, as time permits, still post art and musings both here and at Facebook , so please, don’t give up on me! I’ve cast this net, and I would very much appreciate coming back to find it still full of Wonderful Peeps!